1. Technology Field
The present invention is directed to a response reading method and more particularly, to a response reading method adapted for a data transmission system having a host system and a memory storage device with a rewritable non-volatile memory module and a smart card.
2. Description of Related Art
As electronic wallets and pre-payments are gradually accepted by users, smart cards are widely used. The smart card is an integrated circuit chip (IC chip) having components such as a microprocessor, a card operating system, a security module and a memory for performing an operation predetermined by the owner. The smart card provides functions such as computation, encryption, bidirectional communication, and security verification, so that besides data storage, the smart card may provide a protection for the data stored therein. A subscriber identification module (SIM) card utilized in a cellular phone applying a global system for mobile communication (GSM) is an application example of the smart card. However, since the storage volume of the smart card is limited, memory cards with large volume are combined to the smart cards recently for increasing the storage volumes of the smart cards.
A memory card is a storage device and typically adopts a NAND flash memory as its storage medium. The NAND flash memory has advantages of being rewritable and erasable, and capable of retaining data stored therein even after being powered off. In addition, with the advancement of the fabrication techniques, the NAND flash memory is also provided with many other advantages, such as being small volume, having high access speed and low power consumption, etc. Generally speaking, a user can access data in a memory card through a card reader. Thus, in an application where a smart card is integrated with a memory card, data stored in the memory card and the smart card can only be read through a card reader in a contact manner. Nevertheless, along with the development of near field communication (NFC), many contactless sensing techniques, such as transit fare cards and access cards, have been broadly applied in our daily life.
However, when a host system access certain data belonging to the smart card, the host system may be incapable of directly reading data replied from the smart card, but old data in the cache memory of the host system, instead. Therefore, the development of a system and a method capable of unmistakably delivering response messages of the smart card in the application where the flash memory is integrated with the smart card is necessary.
Nothing herein should be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art of any portion of the present invention. Furthermore, citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention, or that any reference forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art.